Amy Pond and the Promises Kept
by vickielippett
Summary: Amy Pond is in New York, settled and happy. But there is one more promise that the Doctor is yet to fulfill. She'd made him promise to go to her younger, waiting self and give her hope. But there are other promises to be kept too, as she will soon find out.
1. A Wave of Feelings and Memories Alike

It had been 1 year to the day that Amelia Pond had chosen Rory Williams, _her husband_, over her raggedy man. Just as she always knew she would have to eventually. She hadn't been prepared for the parting to be quite so final though. She braced herself and remembered the last look on his eternally youthfully ancient face and let the usual wave of sadness and loss crash through her. Rory had thought she'd gotten through the worst of it by now, after the dark months of holding her in their small apartment and even smaller double bed as the nightmares took their toll. She never regretted her decision you understand, not once, but Rory would never know the depth of the river of loss that coursed through her. He would never have to accept that it would never fully recede and Amy was determined that he would_ never_ know…_ever_. The river might be calmer, less turbulent and her life might be just exciting enough to keep the ebb and flow of grief away, but when it did rear its head it was just as painful as that first day. Her raggedy man was no longer hers; she'd made sure of it.

_"don't be alone doctor."_

She'd made him promise one more thing that day too. So her she was, 1 year on, sat in the big plush armchair that the shop assistant had described as "the bluest blue ever", preparing for the memories to appear in her head as he made them. He had to, she'd made him promise.

"_And do one more thing for me. There's a little girl waiting in a garden. She's going to waiting for a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope.  
Go to her_."

_This is the story of the days that never came_, she thought.  
_And this, is how they started. _


	2. Promise 1: A Dream Shattered & Restored

"Did you know that there is a species of horse in the universe that managed to evolve and bypass humans at a _startlingly_ rapid rate? These horses became _so_ intelligent and advanced that they decided to break away from humanity and spread out into the stars themselves! They run several solar systems now, in fact." He began flipping various switches on the control panel; using toggle switches (_he loved a good toggle switch_), levers and other things that Amy knew were just there for him to play with and weren't even connected up.

He'd been talking a mile a minute since they'd gotten up. It had been a _unbelievably_ rough night. Apparently the time vortex was extra bumpy as they were travelling past a black hole. Of course he'd then felt the need to wake both her AND Rory up as it was "fascinating" and a "once in a lifetime occurrence". But as she said to him, most things they saw every day were "once in a lifetime" that's why travelling with him was so great!

"I happen to be friends with the _Primestallion_ himself; he oversees the 9 planets they occupy" He carried on as he straightened his bowtie proudly.

"I must admit though, it _is_ easy extending the hand of friendship to a horse when you happen to be holding a bushel of apples. Ancestral instincts and all that. What a day that was…saved half the universe with the help of a few of Granny Smiths finest." He gestured flamboyantly, as he always did. Rory had always joked that if you bound his hands together the Doctor would lose the ability to talk. Amy doubted it. Even posing as a headless monk hadn't stopped his mouth moving. She smiled at the memory, that day had been so bittersweet. Determined to not lament the past she focused on the continuing conversational flow bursting from the Doctor. What had he been saying again? Space horses? Granny Smiths' apples? _Ok_, she thought,_ let's see where this goes._

"And they were the finest; I should know I gave her that first bag of apple seeds that started her off! And as for how she became Granny Smith, well that's a different story altogether and it's not even_ mine_. The apples seeds were genetically modified for superior taste of course but hey, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth!" He joked, looking round making sure everyone had witnessed his comedy genius. Which was decidedly less than his normal, I'm-smarter-than-the-whole-planet-put-together genius. Slowing his movements on the controls, his eyes looked into the distance. Probably remembering some old conversation or anecdote from his days in Granny Smiths orchards. That's what Amy loved, _like really loved_ about travelling with the Doctor; he was linked to practically every major person or event ever. He knew everyone, saved everyone, excited everyone…_ most of the time. _She yawned into the heel of her hand because after the whole "C_ome, look! There's a black hole on the side of the time vortex_" fiasco not only was she awake, but also petrified that at any moment they could be sucked into a black hole. The doctor assured her in many convoluted but vaguely understandable ways that it was completely impossible. But she'd heard that before... several times. Of course it usually ended up not only being possible, but possible in painful, frightening 10-seconds-to-save-them-all kinds of ways.

"But anyway, back to the important bit! Can you_ imagine_ it! Horses in a space suit! Well, not really. Although, they _did_ wear suits when they became the fashion. They were far too advanced for _space_ suits by that point. No point in looking ridiculous now, is there?" asked the Doctor, rhetorically.

_This coming from the man in the bow tie?_ Amy thought.

"Because being a horse in space isn't ridiculous enough already eh, Mr Pond?" Amy played along. Smiling, she turned round, intending to wink at Rory and get him to join her in their favourite game of _How long until the Doctor realises we're laughing at him_. The longest game was one week, she remembered. He'd thought they were just really interested in the mating calls of the moose species they'd visited on Gatrix Nine 3 months ago. Instead she found him with his head lolled back and drooling onto his own cheek. He'd fallen asleep.

"Rory!" she shouted.

"Zzzzzzz...-Yes! No? Sorry. I must have dozed off… that black hole last night. Are they always so loud?" a yawn obscuring the last few words, Rory rubbed his head, and tried in vain to convince his eyelids to stay open.

"Actually Mr Pond, I think you'll find that was your wife-" the doctor leaned over to Rory and stage whispered "-_snoring_".

"I DO NOT _SNORE_!"

"Actually, yes, you do… and loudly. I could hear you from the main control room! I have an elixir made from the flattened rushes that grow by the rivers on one of Jupiter' moons, to stop the snoring, pour it into a tea and-"

"I. DO. NOT. SNORE! And _even if_ I did, which I don't, it would be a delicate, dainty snore. Like one from a Unicorn" she said, clearly concluding and closing the discussion. But as usual the Doctor ignored the social cue.

"Unicorns don't really snore actually; it's more of a whistle that escapes from the top of the horn. Sort of like an old boiling kettle" casually said the Doctor from behind the console, and continued to press buttons, acting like he hadn't just said the weirdest thing Amy had heard in weeks. Which was quite an achievement considering the company she kept.

"I'm sorry…unicorns? Like really, really unicorns? Not some naff old donkey with a forehead condition?" Amy said, still suspicious, as she always was with things that sounded too good to be true. It was in these moments that the Doctor really saw the toll his 12 year absence had taken on her. Still that's what kept him going, what kept him bouncing them round the universe, showing them time and space, showing her the wonders, showing her the_ too good to be true_.

"Yes Pond, like really,_ really_ unicorns" he said mimicking Amy's tone playfully, and grasping her cheeks, making her giggle.

"Well, not really_, REALLY_ unicorns" he carried on "but I _can_ shed a small amount of light on where the myth started. See the 'intelligent space horses', and that's simplifying them a lot for your tiny, human brains, travelled to these new worlds to start a colony but terraforming, the process of making planets habitable for lifeforms, hadn't been fully actualised yet. So instead, naturally, they adapted technology to breathe and live despite the conditions. They used a type of multi-particle conical accelerator to extrapolate the oxygen particles in the air and it was linked right up to the respiratory systems in the nasal passages. Quite clever if you ask me, but I always was fond of a cyborg space horse, myself" he explained, gesturing and rubbing his hands together excitedly. He always saw beauty in the strange and, if Amy admitted, the slightly irregular.

"So… hang on, where do they come into the subject of Unicorns? They're horses with freaky oxygen masks, so what? I mean, yeah, impressive handiwork considering they haven't got thumbs, but still?" Amy asked, slightly baffled. The trick, she'd learned, was to carry on questioning and making assumptions until he'd actually explained fully. Sometimes it took him a while, but he always got there in the end.

"Think about it Pond! Conical! Linked straight up to the nasal respiratory system!" the Doctor waited patiently for the metaphorical penny to drop.  
Amy began to look more and more confused until suddenly her face, showing no sign of the thoughts below the surface, turned on the Doctor.

"Wait a minute. Are you telling me that the Unicorn doll, that I loved, _cherished even_, as a child was just a future space horse with a freaky oxygen mask on? The horn is the oxygen mask right?" Amy closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable answer she hoped she wouldn't hear.

"Essentially? Yes. But must you put it so simply? Really, Pond." The Doctor said, disapproval colouring his face. He didn't like simplifying things; he thought it made everything sound more boring. If something was fantastic, complex and confusing then it should be shown the right amount of appreciation and respect and be explained as such. Amy at this point, too confused and disturbed to say anything else, turned around to see what Rorys' opinion on all this was. He had been weirdly quiet on the whole subject. Expecting to see some semblance of shock on her husband's face, she was greeted by the sight of him, again, drooling on his own cheek. Asleep. _Oh well_, she thought, _what he doesn't know won't hurt him._ Plus, deep down she knew he'd probably seen some half-concocted conspiracy about unicorns actually being aliens on some dingy website. She could almost hear the inevitable _I told you so's. _Giving herself a few moments to digest this new information, using her usual method of counting down from 10, she approached the Doctor and attempted a casual conversational tone.

"So where do the Unicorn stories come from then, you said they originated back from this alien horse race. But if they're from the future, how did we find them?" asked Amy, curiosity now overwhelming her disbelief.

"Well Brian got out; He'd come round for brunch and he'd gone out the wrong door. He'd been looking for the bathroom. Though, between you and me, his race may be advanced, but I'm glad he didn't find it" said the Doctor conspiratorially.

"_Brian_?" coaxed Amy.

"Primestallion? Leader of the 9 planets? Honestly Amy, you really should learn to listen. Anyway, he got out and was seen by a couple of passing druids. I did wonder what they'd made of him, but now, I guess, they came up with Unicorns! What an imagination, you lot!" he said, ending on a flourish on the console. An idea was starting to form in Amy's head, but if Rory found out he'd never let her live it down. But _Unicorns?_ Who could let _that_ opportunity pass by?! Checking Rory was still happily drooling on himself, Amy sidled up to the Doctor by the console.

"So, Doctor, how easy is it to get to these… Unicorns?" Amy said casually, pretending to examine one of the consoles many buttons.

"Well, I suppose pretty easy, as long as I go back to the right time, back to when Brian is still in charge. We'll be welcomed in with open hooves" He said, watching Amy out the corner of his eye. He always knew when she was up to something. She gave up the pretence and put her hand over his on the console lever, gaining his full attention.

"So…do you think we could visit? Just for a glance. I mean, how often does a girl get the opportunity to see a _Unicorn,_ for god's sake!?" Amy's childish excitement was starting to show.

"Please don't tell Rory though. He'd never let me live it down, and I don't think I could live with the smugness. Even for a day. Well, until I put him back in his place at least" She said with a joking smile.

"_Please_?" She pleaded, her eye's intent on his, willing him to say yes.

"Ok Pond, I Promise" he said with a smile, happy to see the return of a faint childish gleam in her eye.


End file.
